Key Personnel

Introducing the key personnel instrumental to our network’s impact—these skilled individuals bring their expertise and dedication, shaping the path forward in advancing diabetes care and community well-being.

Allison Tharp

Allison Tharp, MS

Network Director

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Catherine Moring in her white coat.

Catherine Moring, PhD, RDN, BC-ADM, CDCES, MCHES

Network Project Director, Co-Founder Diabetes Solutions

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Jennifer Taylor

Jennifer Taylor, RN, CDCES, CPT

Network Assistant Director, Co-Founder Diabetes Solutions

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Rani Richard

Rani Richard, MBA

Director of Finance

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Danielle Fastring

Danielle Fastring, PhD, MS, MPH

Network Evaluator

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Governing Board

Amy Baggett

Amy Catherine L. Baggett, PharmD

Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN)

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Bateman

Bob Bateman, PhD

William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine

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Jim

Jim Blackwood, JD

Tallahatchie General Hospital

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Anne Cafer

Annie Cafer, PhD

The University of Mississippi 

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Reed Davis

Reed Davis, MD

Baptist Memorial Hospital - North Mississippi

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Farrow

Stephen Farrow, MD

National Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute

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Danielle Fastring

Danielle Fastring, PhD, MS, MPH

William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine

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Allison Ford

Allison Ford-Wade, PhD

The University of Mississippi

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Catherine Moring in her white coat.

Catherine Moring, PhD, RDN, BC-ADM, CDCES, MCHES

Tallahatchie General Hospital Medical Foundation

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Meagan Rosenthal

Meagen Rosenthal, PhD

The University of Mississippi

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Who We Are

Discover our story, values, and the meaningful impact we strive to achieve together.

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Founding Members

See the pioneering organizations that are steering the collective vision toward advancing diabetes care.

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Allison Tharp, MS

Network Director

Allison Tharp

Allison is a certified transformational nutrition coach, health coach, and personal trainer. She has a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine and exercise science from Belhaven University and a master’s degree in health promotion from the University of Mississippi.

Prior to beginning her role as the Network Director for the Mississippi Diabetes Network, she founded Whole Story Health where she provides health coaching and consulting to women diagnosed with PCOS or other hormonal imbalances. She is a health talk radio show host and host of The Landing Spot Podcast where she conducts interviews with leading experts in the holistic health and functional medicine field. 

She was the program coordinator and health coach for a Mississippi-based company before starting her own company to reach clients nation-wide. Earlier in her career she served as the health education partnership manager for Belhaven University. She is also a public speaker with over a decade of experience in population and community health.

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Catherine Moring, PhD, RDN, BC-ADM, CDCES

Network Project Director, Co-Founder Diabetes Solutions

Catherine Moring in her white coat.

Dr. Moring is a registered and licensed dietitian, is board certified in advanced diabetes management, is a certified diabetes care and education specialist, and a master certified health education specialist. She has a master’s degree in Health Promotion and a doctorate in Health and Kinesiology, both from the University of Mississippi.

She is the founder and Executive Director of the James C. Kennedy Wellness Center as well as the Director of Wellness for Tallahatchie General Hospital and Medical Foundation. She is the co-founder of Diabetes Solutions, a virtual and accredited Diabetes Self-Management Education program.

She has worked on numerous research projects, received over seven million dollars in grant funding, and has over 15 years of experience in community and population health. She is passionate about working with people and communities to improve both community and individual health and quality of life. She is involved with multiple other community-based health efforts, serves on several boards, and has committed her life and career to improving individual, community, and population health while simultaneously working to reduce health disparities and improve social determinants of health. Most importantly, she is a wife, mom, and bonus mom.

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Jennifer Taylor, RN, CDCES, CPT

Network Assistant Director, Co-Founder Diabetes Solutions

Jennifer Taylor

Jennifer is a Registered Nurse, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, a certified personal trainer and health coach. She brings over 20 years of medical and healthcare experience to the Mississippi Diabetes Network.

As an R.N., Jennifer has vast experience across many fields of nursing including medical surgical care, labor and delivery, home health and hospice, and as a minimum data set coordinator in long term care.  She is experienced in management and administration having served as a nursing supervisor and director of patient care with Continue Care Home Health in Charleston, Mississippi.

Jennifer currently serves as the Assistant Director of Wellness for the James C. Kennedy Wellness Center. She is also the co-founder of Diabetes Solutions and provides one-on-one diabetes self-management education to people of all ages. Jennifer’s work continues to enhance patient satisfaction and deliver successful outcomes of the program.  She has also developed and taught diabetes related material and information to health professionals throughout the state of Mississippi.

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Rani Richard, MBA

Director of Finance

Rani Richards

Rani Richard is the Director of Finance for Tallahatchie General Hospital Medical Foundation and the Controller Tallahatchie General Hospital (TGH). Her formal education consists of a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration with a focus in accounting from Delta State University.  She was inducted into the Accounting Honor Society at Delta State University and graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the Master Program.

During her time at TGH, she has developed numerous skills and training in all forms of financial accounting and reporting. She has successfully overseen the financial aspects of three grants funded from the Health Resources Services and Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy, totaling $2.6 million dollars. She works closely with the TGH Chief Financial Officer and finance team to ensure the Medical Foundation is a fiscally sound organization, and all grant funds are spent according to the budget narrative(s) and funding is used appropriately. 

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Danielle Fastring, PhD, MS, MPH

Network Evaluator

Danielle Fastring

Dr. Fastring is the Director of Student Research and an Associate Professor of Pre-Clinical Sciences at the COM. Formerly, she was an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi in the School of Nursing and Health Professions.  She received her PhD in Epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She was a Fellow in the Maternal Child Health Epidemiology Doctoral Training Program sponsored by the HRSA.

She has extensive training in epidemiology, study design, survey development, data collection, and analysis. Her research interests include health disparities throughout rural Mississippi and the Gulf South. She has been the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator for grant funded projects focused on reducing health disparities by addressing upstream inequities related to the social determinants of health.

She is the owner and CEO of Fastring Evaluation and Consulting, LLC and regularly provides evaluation services for health care programs whose primary aim is to eliminate health disparities in vulnerable populations. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Mississippi Public Health Association. 

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Board Member

Amy Catherine L. Baggett, PharmD

Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN) of Mississippi

Amy Baggett

Amy Catherine L. Baggett, a Mississippi Gulf Coast native, completed her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Mississippi in 2020. She then completed a PGY1 Community-based pharmacy practice residency and an enhanced community pharmacy services fellowship with Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, FL with an emphasis on diabetes care and education. Upon returning to Mississippi, she took on the role of Managing Network Facilitator for the Community Pharmacy Enhanced Services Network (CPESN) of Mississippi, where she contracts with third-party payors and partners on behalf of member pharmacies for enhanced patient care services beyond traditional dispensing. Further, she is currently the co-owner and pharmacist at Love’s Pharmacy in Diamondhead.

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Board Member

Bob Bateman, PhD

William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Bateman

Dr. Bateman has a PhD in Biochemistry. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas before joining the faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1988. He joined WCU College of Osteopathic Medicine in August 2011. He served as Director of the WCU Master of Biomedical Science program from 2011 to 2013, at which point he became the WCUCOM Associate Dean for Research.

Dr. Bateman has supervised research, published nearly forty scientific articles, and been awarded two patents. His research has been supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and others. Dr. Bateman’s current teaching and research interests are in the area of lifestyle medicine and he is currently the WCU PI on two HRSA grant subcontracts for diabetes.

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Board Member

Donald James “Jim” Blackwood, JD

Tallahatchie General Hospital

Jim

Jim Blackwood is the Administrator and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tallahatchie General Hospital. Mr. Blackwood is a managing partner of Sunflower Management Group, a management team recruited to TGH to implement a financial and operational improvement program. Since 2011, Mr. Blackwood and his team have made significant capital improvements to the facility, implemented new technologies such as telemedicine and an electronic health record, and co-created a community wellness initiative.

Prior to assuming his role as CEO of TGH, Mr. Blackwood practiced law for 14 years. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Mississippi. He has extensive experience in rural health care and in creating value-added revenue streams for rural hospitals and clinics to create sustainable models of care designed to increase access to care, prevent hospital closures, and prevent and reduce hospital bypass and out migration of hospital services. He and his management team have assisted numerous rural health care providers and hospitals improve their financial situations and become profitable while providing top level and value-based care.

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Board Member

Annie Cafer, PhD

The University of Mississippi

Anne Cafer

Dr. Cafer is the Associate Dean for Research, Scholarship, and Graduate Education Assistant Professor of Sociology. She holds a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology and Sociology from Northwest Missouri State University, an MA in Anthropology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and a PhD in Rural Sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She joined the faculty in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology in the fall of 2016. While serving as an assistant professor of sociology, Dr. Cafer co-founded the Community First Research Center for Wellbeing and Creative Achievement (CREW). This center works directly with communities in Mississippi to leverage institutional resources and expertise to build resilience using a CBPR approach. She also served as the Director for UM’s Center for Population Studies (CPS) where she supported the Center’s mission as a federal State Data Center to help communities access, analyze, and interpret public data for local and state decision-making.

Dr. Cafer’s research focuses on the theoretical and practical applications of community resilience. She works closely with rural communities to examine the ways in which various social, economic, and environmental systems interact to create (non)resilient communities. She is an interdisciplinary community-based participatory researcher (CBPR) by training and actively works with communities as co-investigators. Dr. Cafer is a Borlaug Fellow in Global Food Security and an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.

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Board Member

Reed Davis, MD

Baptist Memorial Hospital – North Mississippi

Reed Davis

Reed Davis is a primary care physician in Oxford, Mississippi. He is also an associate program director for the Internal Medicine residency at Baptist in Oxford where he works primarily to ensure internal medicine residents are equipped to practice outpatient medicine. He was born and raised in Mississippi completing medical school in Jackson, MS at UMMC. Subsequently, he completed his internal medicine residency training in Charlottesville, VA at UVA. He now lives in Oxford with his wife and two daughters.

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Board Member

Stephen Farrow, MD

National Diabetes and Research Institute (NDORI)

Farrow

Dr. Stephen Farrow joined NDORI as Executive Director in 2020. He is the treasurer for the Diabetes Coalition of Mississippi’s Board of Directors and physician Co-Chair for the Mississippi State Health Improvement Plan’s Obesity Subcommittee.

Dr. Farrow joined NDORI after a 3-decade career in academia with the Wayne State University, University of Michigan, and University of South Alabama Schools of Medicine. His funded, peer-reviewed domestic and international research addressed cardiovascular and metabolic genetics and physiology in elite athletes and in hypertensive and diabetic patients. Dr. Farrow served as Medical Service and acting Staff Chief for the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System. He completed medical, internal medicine, and endocrinology education at Detroit’s Wayne State University. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with an executive master’s degree in international business administration. Today, Dr. Farrow is Clinical Professor of Medicine and Endocrinology with Wayne State University and a student mentor with the COM.

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Board Member

Danielle Fastring, PhD, MS, MPH

William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Danielle Fastring

Dr. Fastring is the Director of Student Research and an Associate Professor of Pre-Clinical Sciences at the COM. Formerly, she was an Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Southern Mississippi in the School of Nursing and Health Professions.  She received her PhD in Epidemiology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She was a Fellow in the Maternal Child Health Epidemiology Doctoral Training Program sponsored by the HRSA.

She has extensive training in epidemiology, study design, survey development, data collection, and analysis. Her research interests include health disparities throughout rural Mississippi and the Gulf South. She has been the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator for grant funded projects focused on reducing health disparities by addressing upstream inequities related to the social determinants of health. She is the owner and CEO of Fastring Evaluation and Consulting, LLC and regularly provides evaluation services for health care programs whose primary aim is to eliminate health disparities in vulnerable populations. She also serves on the Executive Board of the Mississippi Public Health Association.

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Board Member

Allison Ford-Wade, PhD

The University of Mississippi

Allison Ford

Dr. Allison Ford-Wade serves as Associate Dean of Community Engagement in the School of Applied Sciences, Interim Chair for Health, Exercise Science and Recreation Management department, and Program Director for Public Health at the University of Mississippi. Dr. Ford-Wade holds an undergraduate degree from the University of North Alabama in exercise science, a master’s degree in health promotion from Mississippi State University, and a PhD in Health Science from The University of Arkansas.

As a native Mississippian, Ford-Wade moved back to Mississippi after serving on faculty in Florida and is in her 20th year at Ole Miss. Dr. Ford-Wade’s research is in women’s health and community health. Her administrative roles as Associate Dean include liaison with faculty, staff, students, and administrators around community engagement efforts, including a new university minor in community engagement. She also works with all scholarships for the School of Applied Sciences and currently manages a grand challenge around mental health. As Interim Chair for Health, Exercise Science & Recreation Management, she works with 2 faculty, four staff members and over 1,100 students. She is a Gillespie Distinguished Scholar.

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Board Member

Catherine Moring, PhD, RDN, BC-ADM, CDCES, MCHES

Network Project Director, Co-Founder Diabetes Solutions

Catherine Moring in her white coat.

Dr. Moring is a registered and licensed dietitian, is board certified in advanced diabetes management, is a certified diabetes care and education specialist, and a master certified health education specialist. She has a master’s degree in Health Promotion and a doctorate in Health and Kinesiology, both from the University of Mississippi.

She is the founder and Executive Director of the James C. Kennedy Wellness Center as well as the Director of Wellness for Tallahatchie General Hospital and Medical Foundation. She is the co-founder of Diabetes Solutions, a virtual and accredited Diabetes Self-Management Education program.

She has worked on numerous research projects, received over seven million dollars in grant funding, and has over 15 years of experience in community and population health. She is passionate about working with people and communities to improve both community and individual health and quality of life. She is involved with multiple other community-based health efforts, serves on several boards, and has committed her life and career to improving individual, community, and population health while simultaneously working to reduce health disparities and improve social determinants of health. Most importantly, she is a wife, mom, and bonus mom.

Mississippi Diabetes Network logo

Board Member

Meagen Rosenthal, PhD

The University of Mississippi

Meagan Rosenthal

Dr. Rosenthal is an associate professor of pharmacy administration in the School of Pharmacy. She is also the interim executive director of the William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing. She is the Co-Founder and Director of the Community First Research Center for Wellbeing & Creative Achievement (CREW). 

Dr. Rosenthal’s research focuses on developing systems to integrate health research evidence into practice. She approaches this broad topic area through two specific areas. The first area involves partnering with people who have chronic conditions to understand their specific needs and help to generate research questions that are meaningful to them. The second area involves working with community pharmacists to transform their practices to provide patients, especially those in rural communities where resources are limited, with much-needed services focused on chronic disease management. 

She also serves on multiple University committees and has secured more than $1 million in grant funding, which has supported ground-breaking work in patient centered outcomes research related to diabetes management, especially in rural and underserved areas.